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N0KFQ > TODAY 22.10.15 16:25l 105 Lines 5389 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 70813_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Oct 22
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Sent: 151022/1422Z 70813@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.64
1962
Cuban Missile Crisis
In a televised speech of extraordinary gravity, President John F.
Kennedy announces that U.S. spy planes have discovered Soviet
missile bases in Cuba. These missile sites_under construction but
nearing completion_housed medium-range missiles capable of
striking a number of major cities in the United States, including
Washington, D.C. Kennedy announced that he was ordering a naval
"quarantine" of Cuba to prevent Soviet ships from transporting
any more offensive weapons to the island and explained that the
United States would not tolerate the existence of the missile
sites currently in place. The president made it clear that
America would not stop short of military action to end what he
called a "clandestine, reckless, and provocative threat to world
peace."
What is known as the Cuban Missile Crisis actually began on
October 15, 1962_the day that U.S. intelligence personnel
analyzing U-2 spy plane data discovered that the Soviets were
building medium-range missile sites in Cuba. The next day,
President Kennedy secretly convened an emergency meeting of his
senior military, political, and diplomatic advisers to discuss
the ominous development. The group became known as ExCom, short
for Executive Committee. After rejecting a surgical air strike
against the missile sites, ExCom decided on a naval quarantine
and a demand that the bases be dismantled and missiles removed.
On the night of October 22, Kennedy went on national television
to announce his decision. During the next six days, the crisis
escalated to a breaking point as the world tottered on the brink
of nuclear war between the two superpowers.
On October 23, the quarantine of Cuba began, but Kennedy decided
to give Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev more time to consider the
U.S. action by pulling the quarantine line back 500 miles. By
October 24, Soviet ships en route to Cuba capable of carrying
military cargoes appeared to have slowed down, altered, or
reversed their course as they approached the quarantine, with the
exception of one ship_the tanker Bucharest. At the request of
more than 40 nonaligned nations, U.N. Secretary-General U Thant
sent private appeals to Kennedy and Khrushchev, urging that their
governments "refrain from any action that may aggravate the
situation and bring with it the risk of war." At the direction of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. military forces went to DEFCON 2,
the highest military alert ever reached in the postwar era, as
military commanders prepared for full-scale war with the Soviet
Union.
On October 25, the aircraft carrier USS Essex and the destroyer
USS Gearing attempted to intercept the Soviet tanker Bucharest as
it crossed over the U.S. quarantine of Cuba. The Soviet ship
failed to cooperate, but the U.S. Navy restrained itself from
forcibly seizing the ship, deeming it unlikely that the tanker
was carrying offensive weapons. On October 26, Kennedy learned
that work on the missile bases was proceeding without
interruption, and ExCom considered authorizing a U.S. invasion of
Cuba. The same day, the Soviets transmitted a proposal for ending
the crisis: The missile bases would be removed in exchange for a
U.S. pledge not to invade Cuba.
The next day, however, Khrushchev upped the ante by publicly
calling for the dismantling of U.S. missile bases in Turkey under
pressure from Soviet military commanders. While Kennedy and his
crisis advisers debated this dangerous turn in negotiations, a
U-2 spy plane was shot down over Cuba, and its pilot, Major
Rudolf Anderson, was killed. To the dismay of the Pentagon,
Kennedy forbid a military retaliation unless any more
surveillance planes were fired upon over Cuba. To defuse the
worsening crisis, Kennedy and his advisers agreed to dismantle
the U.S. missile sites in Turkey but at a later date, in order to
prevent the protest of Turkey, a key NATO member.
On October 28, Khrushchev announced his government's intent to
dismantle and remove all offensive Soviet weapons in Cuba. With
the airing of the public message on Radio Moscow, the USSR
confirmed its willingness to proceed with the solution secretly
proposed by the Americans the day before. In the afternoon,
Soviet technicians began dismantling the missile sites, and the
world stepped back from the brink of nuclear war. The Cuban
Missile Crisis was effectively over. In November, Kennedy called
off the blockade, and by the end of the year all the offensive
missiles had left Cuba. Soon after, the United States quietly
removed its missiles from Turkey.
The Cuban Missile Crisis seemed at the time a clear victory for
the United States, but Cuba emerged from the episode with a much
greater sense of security. A succession of U.S. administrations
have honored Kennedy's pledge not to invade Cuba, and the
communist island nation situated just 80 miles from Florida
remains a thorn in the side of U.S. foreign policy. The removal
of antiquated Jupiter missiles from Turkey had no detrimental
effect on U.S. nuclear strategy, but the Cuban Missile Crisis
convinced a humiliated USSR to commence a massive nuclear
buildup. In the 1970s, the Soviet Union reached nuclear parity
with the United States and built intercontinental ballistic
missiles capable of striking any city in the United States.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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